Environment & Science

Santa Monica council forum to take on airport's future

KPCC's Molly Peterson on a Gilligan's Island style tour of environmental stories in and affecting Southern California. Named for the Yvor Winters poem: "The slow Pacific swell stirs on the sand/Sleeping to sink away, withdrawing land..."
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A view of the runway at the Santa Monica Airport.
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Molly Peterson|September 10, 2012

Candidates for Santa Monica’s city council will debate the future of that city’s airport this week.

Fifteen people are running for four open city council seats in Santa Monica. They’ve been invited to a forum sponsored by Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution, a group that wants to close the airport.

Concerned Residents' members believe the airport’s operation is harmful to human health, unsafe, and bad for the environment.

Land and building leases at the 227-acre site expire within 3 years.

Airfield opponents say that would be a perfect time to stop flying small planes piloted by and for rich Westsiders over residential neighborhoods.

Aviation enthusiasts say the airport’s a valuable resource.

The Federal Aviation Administration maintains that Santa Monica must keep the property open as an airport under the terms of a 65-year-old lease. The forum will be at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Santa Monica Business Park. Concerned Residents' Director Martin Rubin will moderate.